NASA and Google A.I. team up and discover a new planet

In what might be the biggest Google search of the decade, CNET reports that NASA has used Google’s machine learning technology to discover a new exoplanet.

Orbiting Kepler-90, a sun-like star 2,545 light years away from Earth, Kepler-90i is an extremely hot, rocky, and barren planet that orbits its star in 14.4 days. Aside from its extreme temperatures, the planet is notable for the fact that it is the eighth planet discovered in the Kepler-90 system, making the system itself tied with ours in the number of planets which orbit a star.

Kepler-90i is also notable for the way in which it was discovered. NASA made use of Google’s machine learning to analyze data collected by the Kepler Space Telescope. The Kepler telescope collects more data than humans alone can analyze in a reasonable amount of time. By using Google’s machine learning technology, NASA was able to use A.I. to sift through the mass of data and search for signals that could indicate exoplanets.

“Just as we expected, there are exciting discoveries lurking in our archived Kepler data, waiting for the right tool or technology to unearth them,” NASA’s Paul Hertz said. “This finding shows that our data will be a treasure trove available to innovative researchers for years to come.”

Researchers Christopher Shallue and Andrew Vanderburg trained Google’s A.I. to identify exoplanets by analyzing light readings recorded by Kepler. Light readings are tiny changes in brightness found when planets pass in front or transit a star. Machine learning has been used in conjunction with the Kepler data before, but this recent discovery marks a major milestone in NASA’s work with A.I.

Shallue, who is a senior software engineer at Google, said he became interested in using machine learning to search for planets when he learned how much data the Kepler telescope was collecting. Currently, Kepler’s four-year data set includes 35,000 potential planetary signals. NASA researchers work to identify the most promising leads, but it is difficult, if not impossible, for people to reliably search through so much data.

“In my spare time, I started googling for ‘finding exoplanets with large data sets’ and found out about the Kepler mission and the huge data set available,” Shallue said. “Machine learning really shines in situations where there is so much data that humans can’t search it for themselves.”

For more information on Kepler-90i, check out NASA’s AMA, which it will be holding on Reddit on December 16 at 3 p.m. EST.

Automakers are spending billions of dollars on developing the technology that will power self-driving cars, but research shows consumers have no interest in giving up control. Will they ever recoup their investment?

The Subaru Telescope in Hawaii has captured evidence of supermassive black holes forming in the ancient universe. Astronomers discovered 83 quasars powered by supermassive black holes from billions of years ago.

The bag you use to tote your stuff can affect the experience of any trip. In response, suitcases are wising up, and there are now options for smart luggage with scales, tracking, and more. Here are our favorite pieces.

Nvidia announced a new A.I. computer, the Jetson Nano. This computer comes with an 128-core GPU that Nvidia claims can handle pretty much any A.I. framework you could imagine. At $99, it's an affordable way for A.I. newbies to get involved.

British Airways is going after a bigger slice of the business class market with the imminent launch of the Club Suite. The plush seating option offers a more private space as well as an easier route to the bathroom.

Sony released the all-new Aibo in the U.S. around nine months ago, and since then the robot dog has (hopefully) been melting owners' hearts with its cute looks and clever tricks. Now it has a new one up its sleeve.

A bacteria which is benign here on Earth can mutate into a drug-resistant superbug once it enters space. Now this problem is being tackled by a team of microbiologists who have found a way to inhibit the spread of bacteria in the ISS.